Anthony Edwards on Kawhi Leonard: “In all honesty, Kawhi may be one of the best players to ever play the game when he’s healthy. I think a lot of his peers feel the same way about him. When he’s 100%, ain’t no stopping Kawhi”
When Kawhi in his mode, he is unstoppable. No debate
Unstoppable? Send in zaza!
The only thing that seems to stop him is MONEY and not getting what he wants.
And 3 catastrophic knee injuries but I guess we’ll ignore that
You mean a confirmed degenerative knee injury that he limped through? Yeah, I probably won’t play through an injury that causes me a lot of pain without leveraging my negotiation power to the maximum. He can just sit out through the injury.
Malingered
TOP 5🗣️
I believe that, but it helps when there is no one trying to stop him too haha
Yeah man, one of the best all around players ever. And peak Kawhi is scary good.
No debate whether he’s the best player to ever pick up a basketball when he’s healthy?!
Y’all are crazy in here sometimes bro lmao
He is one of the best ever when healthy yeah and anybody who’s ever watched him play knows it.
If Kawhi had the same durability as a guy like Durant or Carmelo he would be a universal top 10 player ever.
What is your standard for “One of the best”? I’d say he’s top 20 at his peak, for sure.
Top 10?
Michael, LeBron, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Duncan, Kareem, Shaq… You have him about there? In that Baylor, Hakeem, Kobe, Bill Russell, Big O range?
I don’t know if he beats out four of those guys for top 10. But I think he’s in that 10-20 range.
Oscar Robertson was a great guard for his era but give me a break. He’s not in this discussion
He ain’t even the best guard from his era. Jerry was better
Yeah he is. He’s definitely in the top 10-15 convo. Along with Jerry. The numbers are there.
But ignoring that one person, where do you put Kawhi against the other four that I listed?
Do you know what “one of” means? No one said healthy Kawhi is the GOAT, relax…
Fair. I’m putting away my “jump to conclusions” mat.
Wild overreaction for someone that has terrible reading comprehension
Wipe away the angry tears in your eyes and take a breath, buddy. It’s not that serious.
Take it easy pal, you’ve been embarrassing and cringe enough today.
Well hey, I’m sorry that my Kawhi Leonard take on reddit made you so upset. I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew that you were going to react in this way.
Who called him the best player to ever pick up a basketball?
Bit of an overreaction on my part, for sure.
He seemed to fold in game 7 against the nuggets last year
He didn’t fold, he got 21 in 3 quarters. Tlue waived the white flag and pulled all starters early in the 4th because the game got out of hand. No role player could hit a shot and Harden had a game 7 performance.
Kawhi was good, not great. He averaged 25 but needed to average 28 to win that series. I hold the rest of the team more accountable for that series because they made more mistakes.
The fact that Harden gets more criticism than Kawhi in that series is crazy. Harden had 32 on 11⁄22 shooting in game 1, and Kawhi choked. The Clippers get that game 1, and the whole series is different.
Game 7 was obviously going to happen after they had just come from OT. In game 7’s first half, he was more than 10 points below Harden in the +- it was like -23 to -10. Kawhi while showing great scoring efficiency, showed that he was a horrible playmaker in that series.
Once Denver realized that Harden was the only playmaker-Bogi and Norm forgot how to dribble, pass, and shoot, they doubled a 35 year old worn down from OT Harden, and the 4 on 3 Clippers couldn’t hit anything. Kawhi was getting 1 on 1 matchups and was getting trapped in the corner before chucking up nonsense
He played below average but not exactly folding
Not his fault Harden didn’t show up, and the rest of the team was ass lol
They lost to a superior team, and the best player in the league in Denver
Not Kawhi’s best game, but that series was honestly over when Gordon put back that buzzer beater airball from Jokic. Kawhi wasn’t going to single-handedly save them in game 7 when Powell* put up 9 points in 32 minutes, Harden only shot the ball EIGHT times in 35 minutes, and Zubac is getting beat up inside with no whistle for 32 minutes.
*Norman Powell does not get nearly enough of the blame for his disappearing act over that series.
I think Aaron Gordon gave him problems in that series.
Ant always giving everyone their dues
Except the baby mamas
Paid the last one 18 years upfront
Gd 😭
And gay people
Send da video
…. Almost everyone
Kawhi without injuries is probably a genuine GOAT candidate, he’s not lying.
Yep. Probably my biggest “fear” as an NBA fan is playing him at 100%. He is a machine running a perfect basketball program.
Me too. More the Jokic or SGA. Having his physicality, technical skills and efficiency can’t be matched. There is no one else who can match up to him. He is a basketball orca.
Imagine if he never got jingled a few years back
2021 they wouldve won if no jingle assuming nets were injured still. Kawhi shot 100/100/100 in the 4th quarter vs the mavs in all their 4 wins.
I dont think that statline will ever occur again in such a tight series or ever for that matter
The zaza bs should never be forgotten either. That was done on purpose
A healthy kawhi im taking over almost all players in a playoff series and every current day player
Luka was amazing that series and yet Kawhi was still the best player. Is that 100/100/100 true? What was the volume?
Check the box scores of the 4 clippers wins vs mavs.
Ive checked it many times. Its true.
Why didn’t they win 2020 when he wasn’t injured 😂😂😂
covid and the bubble, not really that hard to imagine my man, i saw people in lock down doing stuff with vasaline like they was stephon marbury.
Wha- actually nevermind…..
World shutdown for years. Cant use bubble or shortened seasons and compare them to a normal season. Siakam wasnt able to touch a ball the entire lockdown for reference. The world lost their minds.
Kashi was pretty beast in the bubble though aside from 1 or 2 games
Id take a healthy Kawhi in a 7 game playoff series over many all time greats tbh
Well that’s the thing, you can’t bank on Kawhi being healthy for a 7 game series
Been watching since 06 ish and LeBron is the only player I’d put more trust in for a playoff series. And he may even have more asterisks
Guys that are elite on both sides of the floor don’t get nearly enough credit. Maybe it’s just the era of min-maxing and specialization, but there are so few who have been able to dominate the way he can. Kawhi stripping Ben McLemore twice in a row is probably one of my favorite highlight of his. Seeing it live at the time just left me thinking , ‘damn, it must really suck to have to play against him.’
The Raptors chip is what makes the case for me, he looked otherworldly in that run.
For me it was this one. Up 1, overtime, prime Russ on a fastbreak. I remember watching every minute of this game and thinking Kawhi’s defense was the best I’d ever seen. One-on-one, on the perimeter, his gigantic hands damn near the floor when in his defensive stance. Guys couldn’t so much as dribble. And that was before this moment. And then when the game came down to it, this is what he did. Truly transcendent stuff.
An all time great defender that can score from anywhere anytime and has shown he can be that guy on multiple teams years apart.
Without a doubt
Top 3 for sure.
I mean watching him play the Knicks the other night…and OG Anunoby could do nothing, and I mean nothing, to slow him down. Knicks had to throw a double at Kawhi every time he touched the ball in the second half, and it lead to wide open 3s for all the other Clips.
Maybe it was a bad OG game, but the only other player I can say that about all year was Giannis in one of the Bucks games back in like November.
Nah Kawhi is an assassin, he is like Agent 47… You just never know who what and why, but regardless of all the injuries and money drama you just know that if he wanted to…. he will win the game no matter what you throw at him.
He was one of the GOAT materials out there. Now he is just riding his insane skill-set while trying to minimize injuries… but the skill-set alone (together with his freakishly large hands) is pretty much top5 of current NBA.
I think it’s just his demeanor that puts people off, they expect Larry Birds, Michael Jordans…. hyper confident , huge ego and very outspoken. It hits different when it comes from a guy that looks like he would rather eat the microphone than speak to you.
I’ll say it again, forget prime Kobe/DWade/etc. - when healthy, prime Kawhi is the closest overall we’ve come to another MJ
He had great games against OG, Jaden McDaniels, and both Thompson twins this year.
Leonard reminds of MJ and Kobe at style. A joy to watch. He is very skilled.
I’ve been saying for years, his game reminds me of MJ in 97,98. A little more grounded, but complete control of the game. I always get downvoted when I say it lol.
Maybe a hot take, maybe not but I’d take peak Kawhi over peak Kobe any day.
Only players at their peak I’d take over Kawhi are Jordan and LeBron and even that argument is probably a very close tie if we’re only looking at them during their peak playing.
Peak for peak, Curry vs Kawhi vs KD is a real conversation in my eyes.
i think kd’s peak is clearly a step below curry and kawhi.
And Kawhy’s is a step below Curry. His game is just perfect for the playoffs basketball, and somehow it looks even better than it actually is.
Give me kawhi. His peak is an absolute demon on both sides. He’s the only one of the three that can make that claim
Peak Curry broke the league man, we will never see individual dominance like 2016 again. There have been comparable scoring seasons to peak KD, and comparable two way seasons to peak Kawhi, but literally nothing like 2016 Curry.
Not even really a conversation that needs to be had. They are all in the same tier. Why the need for ranking lol
They aren’t though…
In my opinion, curry is a touch above both. For availability reasons and the fact that he’s a winner moreso than KD.
If Kawhi could stay healthy … sure. But that didn’t happen.
E: how quickly yall forget the man had back to back MVPs
Do you know what peak means?
Yep, and Kawhi was absolutely injured throughout his.
This is just a thought experiment of “imagine if Kawhi wasn’t injured during his peak”
I’m sorry aren’t we comparing these two to a guy with back to back MVPs? And one unanimously agreed upon?
Peak means a player at their absolute best. Meaning injuries don’t matter. And we should compare the three because yes steph has 2 mvp’s, but kawhi has 2 dpoys and one of the greatest playoff runs oat.
KD is a tier below.
Where is LeBron?
He’s above them
….Or Michael? Or Kareem? Or Shaq? Or Wilt? Or midrange God Giannis?
its crazy he came into the league as a defensive guy with limited offense
Thinking back about his college days triggered a random memory - he got destroyed by Jimmer in the NCAA tournament, lol.
Same with Paul George. First couple of years PG was just a tenacious defender with a burgeoning offense.
Reminds of this dude that dropped 83 points the other night 😉
Heat fans are so cringe lmao
I’ve been saying for years, Kawhi is over there like the Cthulhu or the Lich King, waiting to show up and destroy everyone. Any given night if he takes the floor healthy, he can look like the greatest player in the world, a guy that can single-handedly take over a game and make it look like the easiest thing he’s got to do that day.
I wouldn’t love to see the Clippers in the first round, for the same reason I don’t want to see the Lakers – sometimes basketball is just about who is the best player on the floor, and there’ probably only half a dozen guys that can have a night where they rise to another level over even great players. Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Ant might be there now, Wemby likely will be in the convo but we’ve yet to see him in the postseason. I feel similarly to Embiid that I do Kawhi where if he stays hurt, yeah let’s laugh and call him washed, but if he suddenly heals up we’re all gonna die.
It’s a bit of a meme because people say it all the time, but 2019 playoffs kawhi is the best player i’ve ever watched. Elite defense. Unstoppable offense. Best offensive player in the world and defensive player in the world, even if it was just for that two month stretch.
It was pure dominance. Greatness on a level i’d only seen out of Miami Lebron.
Fuck Zaza and joe ingles
Just the internet n ESPN like to shit on him. He’s goated love watching him
I feel like he’s one of the least hated stars, outside the whole paying under the table thing.
Can we hate a man for wanting to get paid more?
Ant looking like he damn near fully developed his prefrontal cortex this year
He’s a top 5 player in the NBA this season, and he’s not fifth
I’ve been a Kawhi fan since his Spurs days because i have always been in awe of his game when he’s healthy and taking over. I still remember seeing him completely shut down the Grizz in the playoffs singlehandedly and thinking he is the next MJ, 2 way mega star. When he won it all in Toronto and moved on to the Clips, I was really hoping he would win another so that he would have the distinction of leading 3 teams to a Championship just like what Lebron has now done. I was ready to stan for Kawhi and start plugging him into the GOAT conversations 😂
Peak Kawhi > peak KD
Which player is one of the best of all time when they’re unhealthy?
Face Mask Bron, Flu Game Jordan, AI, IT, Embiid
Jordan flu game?
Embiid doing what he does on nonexistent knees is insane. A healthy Embiid is definitely in the convo.
But the point is, how many players have the argument of being one of the best of all time when healthy? No one will call you crazy if you’re picking 100% Kawhi over other stablished legends like KD, Giannis, Harden. He’s efficient, 3 level scorer, amazing defense and instincts and no bullshit on the court (no flop, no whining, no ego).
My point is, why is that tag so consistently applied to Kawhi? Especially because one could argue he’s not even 100% healthy right now with the tendinopathy, and he’s also played incredible playoff games while injured.
Since his fourth season in the league, he’s been one of the best active players, including in the last 5 (played) seasons with the Clippers, and he long ago solidified himself as one of the best of all time. If he’s on the court, his team wins at a historical rate.
Embiid has a great argument
Since we know he plays injured and has insane points per minute
Also being a great two way player
Negli ultimi anni ho visto molte partite di tutte le superstar, nessuno mi ha impressionato tanto quanto kawhi quando sta al 100%
Yeah to me, he most resembles Jordan and Kobe’s gameplay
Obviously he’s not as athletic as those two or a high flyer
It’s his shot selection and mastery of the midrange, fadeaways etc that’s like them
Love to see that more than a great three point shooter
He’s pretty athletic in his own way. Extremely strong but also fluid
True, he’s like a mini tank
He used to play power forward sometimes in college and just be a rebounder and defender so he’s kinda carried that physical mindset over to the pros
In other words, Kawhi just singlehandedly beat our ass so he must be the Goat.
Kawhi is a cold scoring MACHINE.
Almost robot like when he was on. Also Spurs Kawhi was a great defender.
He is still in the league…
I know he is still in the league.
Ant could learn a lot from lonely Leonard
Def one of my favorite watches when he’s healthy and cooking. He’s like shai, looks effortless
If only he could plant trees
This has been an argument for years.
Spurs are gonna have an interesting 1st round series as the 2 seed. It’s a shame they don’t have Zubac and lost their rookie big to an injury. I really loved the Clippers trades this season, felt like a really good soft reboot, with a bonus little potential top 5 pick as well as Mathurin, Garland, just getting younger, opening up cap space for 27 and getting picks, but I kind of wish they kept their guys so we could see what Kawhi could do with them at full strength
Luke warm take
I’ve been clowned in this sub before when discussing who’s the best in the world for always leaving a * for healthy Kawhi.
He doesn’t play as many games, but when he’s on he can be unreal against any top team in the league right now, and he’s been like that. If he was able to play every game to that level, he’d be the best in the world no debate.
Kawhi is in my dream lineup.
C- Hakeem Olajuwon PF- Kevin Durant SF- Kawhi Leonard SG- Micheal Jordan PG- Steph Curry
Olajuwon I believe is the best defensive center of all time and is versatile on offense.
Durant has proven he can play second fiddle to other stars and blend into a team. I can’t think of a better stretch 4.
I thjnk most people would go LeBron at 3 and of course that wouldn’t be wrong but to me Leonard is the star version of Pippen. He can lock down. He can give you 40. He will do whatever you need. I want someone that can lock down on the wing.
Jordan obviously the GOAT. Can’t not have him. Kobe is the only one that comes close.
Curry the best shooter of all time.
The lineup just makes perfect sense to me.
Apparently there’s no stopping his desire for 💰💵🤑too!
DEGENERATIVE KNEE CONDITION
Hate the way Kawhi left us and all his off-court shenanigans and I would be a massive fan if all of that never happened. He is such a machine when heathy. Two-way monster.
Kawhi is like Gandalf, akin to a God
I agree 100% Kawhi would be one of the best ever, but 100% Kawhi doesn’t exist. He load manages and still misses playoffs after playoffs.
One of the only players that fans can guarantee to get you a ring IF healthy
how would the peers know, if they haven’t played the other, older players?
So true. How do we even know Michael Jordan is good if we haven’t personally played against him
Kawhi is easily a Top 5 player rn. Too bad he is on a bad team. Playoff Kawhi is something else 🔥🔥
ANY team going into the playoffs with a healthy Kawhi has a punchers chance
Everybody has an aspiration to be Kawhi.
Kawhi at his best was Jordan on offense with better defense. I think had he stayed healthy in his career, there’s a real GOAT discussion